Hobby-horse.



A. OLFORT.

HOBBY HORSE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 10. m4.

Patented July 27, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

A. OLFORT.

HOBBY HORSE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 10, 1914.

1,147,883. Patented July 27, 19-15;

' 3 SHEETS-SHEET 2. 6

MHnaooeo v v a K A. OLFORT.

HOBBY HORSE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 10, m4.

m'nsss.

Patented J 1 11y 27, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3- anon AXEL OLFORT, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

HOBBY-HORSE.

Specification of Letters fatent.

Patented July 27, 1915..

Application filed June 10, 1914. Serial No. 844,242.

county of Cook, State of Illinois, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Hobby-Horses; and I do hereby declare the following tobe a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same.

The present invention is directed to improvements in hobby-horses, andhas for its object to so construct a device of this character that aperson mounted upon the horse can cause the same to progress across thefloor. I i

A further object of the invention is to so construct a hobby-horsethatthe rider, can cause the same to progress across the floor, whichmust be done cautiously, as another object of the invention is toconstruct the horse so that the same will under certain conditionsapparently stumble, and at which time the tendency will be to unseat therider.

lVith these and other objects in View, this invention resides in thenovel features of construction, formation, combination and arrangementof parts to be hereinafter more fully described,.'cla-imed andillustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the device, showing the same in itsnormal position. Fig. 2 is a similar view, showing the horse in the actof walking, parts thereof being shown in section. Fig. 3 is alongitudinal sectional view through the device. Fig. 4 is a sectionalview on line 44 ofFig. 3. Fig. 5 is a similar view on line 55 ofFig. 1.Fig. 6 is a detail sectional view through the rear leg joint. Fig. 7 isa detail side elevation of the same. Fig. 8 is an enlarged. detallsectional view of one of the front leg joints. Fig. 9 is a longitudinalsectional view of a modified form of the invention.

Referring to the drawing. the numeral 1 designates a body, which ishollow and has at its forward end a neck section 2 pivotally mounted at2. which is also hollow, and has at its forward end a socket to swivellyre ceive the head 3. said head being held in its proper position by thecoil spring 4, which has one end connected interiorly of the head, andthe other connected interiorly of the neck.

Pivotally connected to the neck section 2, as at 5, and upon oppositesides thereof are crank arms 5, the upper ends of which are providedwith handles 6. The arms 7 of the crank shafts have their inner endsprojected into the neck section 2. andare connected to the yokes 8 towhich are pivotally connccted the forward ends of the rods 9, the rodsbeing extended through the body portion and the rear end thereof beingconnected to the sections 10 of the rear legs 11 by coil springs 12. Thesections 10 of the rear legs 11 are pivotally connected to the body bythe shaft 18.

Crank sections 11 are provided and have their arms 15 pivotallyconnected to the shaft 16, said cranks being provided with arms 17 whichare connected to the upper ends of the sections 18 of the fore-legs 19above the pivot 2 by straps 22, said arms being also connected to theneck section 2 by coil springs 20 and 21. The spring 20 tends to pullthe neck of the animal up wardly about its pivotal point 2' while thespring 21 tends to maintain the arm 17 in contact with the periphery ofthe disk on the end .of said neck.

The rods 9 are pivotally connected to the lower ends of the arms of thecranks 14 as at 14' so that when the rods are shifted forwardly, whichis accomplished when the handles 6 are pulled rearwardly, the crankswill be oscillated about their pivots 16. The cranks 14 are oscillatedso that the upper ends are swung rea-rwardly when the ban dles G arepulled rearwardly, thus the arms 17 are pulled rearwardly and the legs19 swing forwardly about their pivots 2. It

first one leg to be advanced and then the other. It is to be notedthateach handle 6 is connected to the diagonally opposite crank 14:.

The leg sections 10 of the rear legs 11 are connected to the legsections 23 by the hinge connection 24, as shown in Figs. 6 and 7. saidleg sections 23 having their lower ends provided with rubber buffers 25;similar buffer 26 being connected to the sections '27 of the fore-legs19, which are hingedly connected to the leg sections 18. The hingeconnections 24 include springs 28 which serve to yieldably connect theleg sections 10 and 23 so that the sections can break at their .jointsslightly during the progress of the horse. The forward movement of thelower sections 23. is limited by the contact of the shoulders 28 and28", the former'beingon the sections 10 and the latter on the sections23.

The leg sections 27 are provided with lugs 29, which are normallyengagedby the slid ing latches 30 mounted inthe leg sections 18, saidlatches being connected to the lower ends of the links 31,- the upperends of which are connected to the'handles 6 the cords 32, said cordsbeing normallyv slack, but when the handles are moved: upwardly and thecords drawn taut the latches 30- will disengage the lugs 30, thuspermitting the leg sections to break at their joints,

- after which they are returned to their normal position by the coilsprings 32 which have certain of their ends connected to the legsections 18 and their other ends to the leg sections 27. The lower endsof the leg sections 19 are {provided with cushions 33 so that when thelegs break at their joints, the cushions will contact with the floor,thus relieving the jar and preventing injury to The body 1 has mountedthereon a sad 11116 3% for the rider, and flexibly connected to theforward end of the body are stirrups A series of for the feet of therider. antifriction rollers 35 are mounted between thebody of the horseand the front and rear legs. j

In operationthe rider who is mounted in the saddle 34 pulls rearwardlyon one of the handles 6 which, moves the yoke 8 to which the crank arm-7is pivoted down -wardly. This operation pulls one of the links 9forwardly "and oscillates the crank section 14 to which it is pivoted sothat the arm 17 connected thereto is pulled rearwardly and the front leg19 turned about its pivot 2 so that the lower portion of the said legwill be extended forwardly, it be-.

ing understood that the'weight of the rider is shifted simultaneouslywith this pulling action so that the weight is relieved from the frontlegs and is borne by the rear legs; Thespring 12 which is connected toone of the rear legs during the above described operation isextended'and therefore has a tendency to draw the rear leg to which l itis attached forwardly. The weight of wardly,

simultaneously, which causes both of the frontlegs to move forwardly andwhen the rider. is then shifted to the front legs or rear legs they aresimultaneously drawn for-' wardly by the spring 12. Simultaneously withthe pulling rearwardly of the levers 6 the neck of the horse is pulledupwardly and the head is oscillated about its pivot downwardly by virtueof the connection of tion as the forward legs .19 again'move into avertical position. Should the above operation be carried out the horsewill successfully proceed, however, should the levers 6 be raised-duringthe operation of the device so that the cords 32 will be drawntaut tooperate the latch members 30 to move up the connections, between theselatches and the projections 29 will be broken which will .cause thehorses front legs to break at the knees and allow him to pitch forwardlyupon his knees at which time'the rider isprecipitated upon the ground.It is to be understood that should only one of the levers 6 be liftedupwardly in an attempt to balance oneself,but one of the legs will beallowed tobreak' at the knee and the rider 5 will be pitched forwardlyto the side. After the weight has been relieved from the front legs ofthe horse the springs 21 again return them to their normal position andautomatically lock the upper sections 18 to the lower sections 27.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that I have provided ahobby horse constructed in the manner above described and which willafiord constant amusement and can be used as a medium for initiatingpurposes into lodges or the like or the device may be used atentertainments.

In the modified form of the device the legs are pivoted to the body 37of the device in a manner similar to that in which the legs are pivotedto the body of the device shown in Fig. 2. v

To the front legs38 below their pivotal points and forwardly thereof areattached coil springs 39 which are at their ends attached to the rearlegs 39, at points below the pivotal points thereof and to the rearthereof.

In operatingthe device of this character it is only necessary to shiftthe weight rearwardly so that it will be supported entirely by'the rearlegs 39 and'relieved from the front legs 38 at which time the levers 6are operated to pull the front legs forwardly against the tension of thesprings 39', the

body,

menses cranks, handles carried by the. neck, means.

connecting the handles and rods, means connecting the fore-legs when thehandles are operated the fore-legs will be moved forwardly through themedium of said rods and simultaneous therewith the rear legs. V

2. A hobby-horse of the class described comprising a body, a neckcarried by the body, fore and hind legs pivotally connected to the body,cranks pivotally mounted in the yokes pivotally supported by the neck,handles for operating the yokes, rods having their forward endsconnected to the yokes and their rear ends yieldably connected to therear legs and cranks, arms carried by the cranks and loosely connectedto the fore-legs, whereby when the handles are operated the fore andhind legs and cranks will be simultaneously rocked, as and or thepurpose set forth.

3. A hobby-horse comprising a body, fore and rear legs pivotallyconnected to the body, means for simultaneously swinging said legs toimpart movement to the horse,

. said legs consistlng of jointed leg sections, the

lowermost leg section of the fore-legs being provided with lugs,

a sliding latch mounted in the uppermost leg sections of the forelegsfor normally engaging the lugs, and

means for operating the latches to disengage and cranks, wherebythe lugsto permit the fore-leg sections to break at their joints, as and for thepurpose set forth.

i. A hobby-horse comprising a body, a pair of legs pivotally connectedto the sides thereof, a neck pivoted to said body portion, cranksconnected to said legs, operating handles pivotally connected to saidneck and to said cranks, the said legs comprising a plurality ofsections pivotally connected together, means for locking the sections ofthe foremost legs together, and means connected to said operatinghandles and to said last mentioned means to operate the same.

5. In a hobby-horse, a body, legs pivotally connected to the sides ofsaid body, a neck pivotally connected to said body portion andeiitending outwardly therefrom, a head pivotally secured to said neck,means for selectively operating the legs on either side of the bodyportion, and resilient means for returning said legs to their initialposia plurality

